Italy gave England considerable food for thought by switching their world-class flanker Mauro Bergamasco to scrum-half for Saturday's opening Six Nations game at Twickenham. The Azzurri coach, Nick Mallett, has had his hand forced by injuries but, if his calculated gamble pays off, it could yet rank among the most inspired selection hunches in the tournament's long history.

At 6ft 1in and almost 16 stone, Bergamasco is smaller than the Wales No9, Mike Phillips, but is invariably a handful whatever position he occupies. He has already represented his country on the wing as well as in the back row and will pose an unorthodox threat to his 5ft 8in opponent, Danny Care, assuming the Harlequin passes a fitness test. With 68 caps to his name, Bergamasco cannot really be described as a novice half-back likely to buckle under pressure.

The 29-year-old, nevertheless, will have to muster a half-decent service and a kicking game if Italy are to mount a serious challenge. "I'll need everyone's help because it's something unusual," acknowledged the Stade Français player. "It's [a request] I accepted with pleasure but there's lots of work to do."

He is certainly athletic enough to give it a go and Mallett, unable to pick the injured Pablo Canavosio, Simone Piccone and Pietro Travagli, is hopeful a lack of specialist expertise can be overcome. "It won't make the difference between victory and defeat against England," said Mallett. "I saw in training that he had the same passing ability and more experience than the others. I believe he will make more tackles on Saturday than had he played on the back row. Psychologically he has no fear of this challenge."

In most other respects Mallett has played it safe with a starting XV that boasts an impressive 670 caps compared with England's tally of 322. The recalled centre Mike Tindall, however, has urged the home team to dig deep as they seek to bounce back from a chastening autumn.

"I know it's a hard time for England but for the players it's a chance to be on a team that turns it around. That should be a motivation for all of us. We're not in a situation you'd usually expect. Teams aren't coming out any longer saying, 'The one team we need to beat is England.' No one's underestimating the size of the task but we've got to be hungrier than other teams and show them humility and respect. We're not on top of the pile and we've got to get back up there. We shouldn't be thinking we're the best around because we're not."

Tindall also believes England need to reassert the fortress mentality previously associated with Twickenham and absorb the lessons of their recent decline. "It is frustrating and it's hard to put a finger on why it's gone that way," he said.

"You can throw around excuses but we still have good enough players to go out there and beat teams. We just haven't gone out and performed. International rugby is a very simple game... sometimes all you need to do is get your basics right.

"To win games you don't always need an X-factor, you just need to be solid. What we're trying to build now is a solid base game. Maybe we did try to run before we could walk in the autumn."